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Porpoise (Ship)
The Porpoise is a truly ancient ship design, which was starting to fall out of favour around the time that Eel Ships and Lampreys were becoming common. Available records suggest that the Porpoise formed the backbone of the Imperial Elven Navy around the time that organization was consolidating from the private fleets of numerous independant elven kingdoms. It is suspected that the Porpoise was the first truly successful elven vessel designed specifically for spelljamming, and that prior to the appearance of the Porpoise, elven spelljammers were merely groundling elven ships. While the facts behind the Porpoise's rise to prominence are murky, there is no mystery behind the ship design's retirement. The Porpoise was built in much the same manner as groundling vessels, or human vessels. After a time, however, the elves learned to magically grow vessels from the fruit of the starfly plant, producing much more elegant living ships, which suited the elven sense of esthetics much better than any ship built from no-longer-living wood. The introduction of the Archaic Man-o-War marked the end of the Porpoise's primacy in the IEN. Initially the Porpoises weren't retired, but were instead increasingly relegated to supply and support roles as living ships became available to replace them. Eventually almost all of them were pushed out of even these roles in favour of Schooners and other vessels. Some Porpoises were scrapped, others were sold off to various spelljamming groups, and many were granted to various groundling elven nations throughout the spheres as gifts from the Imperial Elven Navy. The Porpoises which were actively used for spelljamming eventually disappeared from the spacelanes as they succumbed to damage, age, and other perils, but most of the ships given to elven nations still exist to this day. For the most part, these ships were kept in storage (generally preserved with magical spells) to be used in times of great need. Usually only the rulers of these elven nations, and a few of their closest advisors, are even aware of the existance of these ships. Nevertheless, there have been several occasions when these Porpoises have saved elven nations from destruction. In one case, a pair of the ships serving as aerial artillery saved an elven enclave from a large invasion. In at least two other cases, the ships have allowed evacuations in the face of unstoppable encroaching hordes, and several times Porpoises have been used to summon vital aid from the Imperial Elven Navy. It should be noted that Poproises date from an age when Furnace and Boiler Helms were the standard means of spelljamming propulsion, and Major and Minor Helms had just been introduced. At the time of history when the IEN was decomissioning their Porpoises and giving them to groundling elven nations, the IEN had few enough Major and Minor Helms that giving such helms away was entirely out of the question. This means that virtually all Porpoises which still exist today are equipped with Furnace or Boiler Helms. Since the outbreak of the second Unhuman War, the elves have been unable to grow new ships quickly enough to replace their losses. As a result, they have begun adopting several more conventionally-built designs in order to bolster their fleets. Some members of the admiralty have recently advocated the resurrection of the Porpoise design in this time of need, however no new Porpoises have yet been built. Crew In ancient times, a Porpoise would typically operate with a crew of 25-30 elves, arranged along the strict military lines of the Imperial Elven Navy. Since the ship was retired from the IEN, most Porpoises in modern times have no crews assigned to them on any sort of regular basis. When in use, a Porpoise in modern times tends to have whatever crew is available at the time - most of whom typically have no spelljamming experience. Ship Uses Main Naval Vessel - In its heyday, the Porpoise was a main naval vessel for the Imperial Elven Navy, and fulfilled all of the roles that the Man-o-War fills today. Emergency Ship - Today virtually all existing Porpoises are secretly kept by groundling elven nations to be used in case of emergencies. Other Configurations While there were numerous other configurations for the ancient Porpoise, they have been lost to history.